| Subject: Silos Look to the Future |
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Saskatoon Sun
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Date Posted: 08:55:23 01/31/04 Sat
No words needed to be said. Instead, a press release announcing two GWHL trade deadline deals was all that was needed to reinforce the direction that Saskatoon Silos' GM Ken McKenna was steering his club.
In the first deal, solid defensive defenseman Karlis Skrastins was moved to Montreal in exchange for younger rearguards Michael Rozsival and Nick Schultz. The second deal, completed right at the deadline, sent veteran defenseman Don Sweeney to Edmonton for that team's second round pick in the 2006 GWHL Draft.
The move involving Sweeney was not surprising, but it may have been somewhat of a surprise to fans to see Skrastins moved given the fact that he is in his prime. The Silos GM doesn't necessarily see it as surprising, however.
"Yes, it was tough to deal Karlis," admitted the GM, "but we feel that we got back two good youngsters for our defensive corps. Michael and Nick should be quality defensemen in this league for many years to come, and will add to the defensive depth we have already created in our organization."
The move of Sweeney to Western Conference leader Edmonton was a gesture of goodwill to the veteran defenseman, who is close to the end of his career.
"Donnie is a class guy, so this will be an opportunity for him to win a championship," said McKenna. "We tried to do this for a couple more of our veterans, but the deals weren't there."
While Saskatoon fans may be glum with the realization that the team is going to miss the playoffs this season, there certainly appears to be a bright future on defense for this club.
In addition to acquiring Rozsival and Schultz, the Silos also have two highly regarded defensive prospects in Barrett Jackman and Anton Volchenkov in the pipeline. Add those four to emerging defensemen Filip Kuba, Cory Sarich, Daniel Tjarnqvist and Nolan Pratt and it becomes clear that the Silos have perhaps the best young blueline crop in the GWHL.
For his part, McKenna briefly toyed with the idea of making a run at the playoffs before continuing the rebuilding project that began this past off-season.
"Yeah, we had a couple of games in hand on Yellowknife, so I thought there might be an opportunity for us to make some moves that would make us a contender," acknowledged the GM. "But after seeing the moves that Neil made for the Blades, I decided that there was no way we could put something together without tearing apart what we've built up over the past few months."
Silo Siftings: the Silos made a couple more moves earlier in the week, moving defenseman Pascal Trepanier to Montreal and signing free agent right wing Richard Park. Trepanier was moved for Montreal's third round pick in the 2007 GWHL Draft...With Phil Housley's announcement that this would be his final season, the Silos have decided to bring Housley up from the Prince Albert farm club to finish the year with the Silos. "Phil has had a long, distinguished career, so Coach Hartley and I decided that Phil should finish his career in style," said the GM.
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